Eternal Optimists will Love the Community Empowerment Bill

There is much within the draft Community Empowerment Bill that should be welcomed – not least the explicit recognition that (most) communities need support in order to play a full and active role within the wider socio-politico-economic context.

There is still, however, quite some way to go – in our opinion – and, as is so often the case, the devil is indeed in the detail.

Overarching themes will nonetheless still hold, and EVOC – on behalf of Edinburgh’s Third Sector – would want to concentrate minds on such themes as the interplay between CoProduction and Empowerment; just how Empowerment will reduce inequalities; and the role of Scotland’s Third Sector (and Third Sector Interfaces.)

THE impending Community Empowerment & Renewal Bill (short title: Community Empowerment Bill) is the latest staging post in Scotland’s journey towards more active, engaged and empowered communities.

In September 2011 the Scottish Government announced its intention to develop a Community Empowerment & Renewal Bill, and invited initial ideas.

EVOC prepared a submission on behalf of Edinburgh’s Third Sector, taking as its key themes: an explicit, expanded role for Scotland’s Third Sector in the journey towards greater community empowerment; a strong desire to shift from representative democracy towards more participative democracy; the firm belief that CoProducing policies, services and budgets will enable empowerment; and the clear understanding that since not all ownership is empowering, community influence over public assets is just as valuable as ownership.

In conclusion the submission suggests (among other things) that ‘the Third Sector seeks to move… towards an approach that meaningfully puts people and communities (their needs and assets) at the heart of service design and delivery.’

ONE year later EVOC and Edinburgh’s TSSG (Third Sector Strategy Group) provided a formal submission in response to the Scottish Government’s formal consultation.

Key themes in this submission were:

• The Role of Legislation in bringing about societal change ‘Legislation can be a powerful influence for good… (but) it is in the application of the law that real change will take place… (and) it must be recognised that different communities… can have differential access to the application of (or protection under) the law.’
• The ‘…evident appetite to move from representative democracy towards participative democracy.’
• The potential impact of such ground-breaking legislation in reducing inequalities.

It is encouraging that the themes above, and the ‘top three’ responses to the question ‘Which of these will most support Community Empowerment?’ do appear to have been taken account of in drafting the most recent legislation:

1. An Overarching Public Sector ‘duty to engage,’
2. Strengthening Community Planning, and
3. A Public Sector duty to apply the National Standards for Community Engagement.

Which brings us to the present context, where the Scottish Government has brought forward a range of proposals – some better defined than others – intended to deliver empowered communities across Scotland.

The Government’s current proposals are set out in three groups:

a)      Proposals on which draft legislation has now been published;

b)      Detailed policy questions on issues that have not quite reached the draft legislation stage; and

c)       New policy ideas on wider issues, on which Government is seeking responses.

You will find the following briefing notes published by Third Sector colleagues very useful, informative, and well-researched:

• GCVS
• SCDC
• The Alliance

For my part, I have three points to share:

1. Just ‘bestowing’ upon us the ‘right’ to engage with, or improve public services is no guarantee that anyone will access or exercise this right. We must ensure that the rights in this legislation are exercised, and exercised equitably across communities.
2. The draft legislation presumes certain inherent goods, which decision-makers are to take into account in agreeing or refusing community requests. These are: economic development, regeneration, public health, social wellbeing and environmental wellbeing. It appears that the minister and the bill team are minded to also include ‘reducing inequality.’ To my mind three aspects of inequality should be particularly targeted – reducing gender inequality, reducing health inequalities, and reducing what we might call ‘participation inequality,’ linked to the ‘democratic deficit.’
3. Finally – we’ve recognised all along that Legislation is ‘just’ an enabler. For this legislation to actually deliver the desirable impact, we must also have Capacity, Opportunity, and Motive.

This draft legislation is welcome, and is very encouraging. It is only half the story, though, and how the legislation is applied, used, and realised is bound to be much more exciting in the months and the years to come.